The Broadcasting Authority has found Super One guilty of failing to report the conclusions of the Standards Commissioner, who found no wrongdoing on the part of Nationalist MP and Shadow Minister Toni Bezzina, following a relentless campaign of lies and mudslinging by the Labour Party, the PN said Tuesday.
Despite broadcasting a sustained series of attacks, allegations, and character assassination attempts against Bezzina, the Labour Party's media arm, Super One, did not report that the Commissioner for Standards found no case to answer. The authority ordered the Labour station to report the conclusions of the Commissioner's report within two days of today's decision.
Super One and the Labour Party ran a full campaign targeting Bezzina, alleging that he had breached the terms of his employment contract with the government. The Labour station had already failed to air a right of reply submitted by Bezzina in January.
Despite receiving legal correspondence from Bezzina's representative, lawyer Dr Michael Piccinino, on 7 and 11 June, Super One persisted with its campaign and at no point aired Bezzina's version of events. As a result, the Shadow Minister formally lodged a complaint with the Broadcasting Authority, which has now ruled that Super One was in breach for failing to inform the public about the outcome of the Standards Commissioner's investigation.
The Broadcasting Authority has also ordered that, within two days of its decision, Super One must read out a summary during its news bulletin, outlining the Authority's ruling in favour of Toni Bezzina. The summary must clarify that the complaint related to the failure to report the Commissioner's findings following an investigation into the allegations. It must also note that although the investigation had been reported, its conclusions had not, and the station is now required to do so within two days.
Beyond the case of Toni Bezzina, Labour and Super One also launched similar attacks against other Nationalist MPs, accusing them of absenteeism. The Labour-led complaints - supported by a fascist-leaning faction within the party - were dismissed by the Commissioner for Standards, who found the allegations to be baseless, stating that there had been no irregularities or breaches of ethics. In some instances, the Commissioner even declined to investigate further, noting that there was no case to be examined, the PN said.